Archery bows include risers 10, which generally form a central body of the bow. With reference to the prior art of FIG. 1, these risers 10 may include an upper end 12 and a lower end 14, which may have limb attachment points where cams may be located. A handle 16 may be positioned between the upper and lower ends for gripping by a user during use.
A sight window 20 may be included above the handle 16, which may provide a location from which an arrow is shot from the bow. The sight window 20 may include a lower wall 22, which is sometimes referred to as an arrow shelf, and may further include at least one vertical wall 24, which in turn may connect to an upper wall 26. The upper wall 26 may be horizontal, may project at an angle upward from horizontal, or may be curved. The upper wall 26 may connect the sight window 20 to the upper end 12 of the riser 10.
As can be seen in the prior art of FIG. 2, the riser 10′ may be in the form of a shoot-through riser, which may include two vertical walls 24a, 24b, that may connect the lower wall 22 to the upper wall 26. In such an embodiment, the sight window 20 may be considered a closed configuration, as opposed to the embodiment of FIG. 1, which includes only a single vertical wall 24, and would be considered to have an open configuration.
Accessories such as arrow rests, sights, cable guards, range finders, scopes, flashlights, cameras, fishing reels, and stabilizers are often attached to the riser, such as by way of the vertical wall 24. This is often accomplished through the use of one or more attachment means, such as a hole, on the vertical wall 24. For example, in some instances, a berger hole is used to mount an arrow rest. The sizes of these holes and thread specifications may be based on Archery Manufacturers' Organization (AMO) standards.
The accessories may be fastened from the outside of the vertical wall 24 of the sight window. This attachment arrangement may create certain problems, such as in the context of tuning the bow in order to center the accessory along a center plane of the riser and/or string. For example, because the accessory is attached from the outside of the sight window, at least some lateral positioning or adjustment may be required in order to center the accessory with respect to the riser and/or string.
In addition, the added weight of the accessory may compromise the balance of the bow riser, such as by shifting the center of gravity of the bow to the left or right. This may lead to the bow requiring one or more further weight stabilizers, such as a side stabilizer, a back bar, or a stabilizer weight slide bar to compensate for the added weight of the accessory. This addition of a stabilizing element simply adds further weight to the overall bow.
Accordingly, a need has been identified for a bow riser with an improved attachment system for accessories which addresses these and other shortcomings of traditional risers.